The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1997-10-31

              Hudson casino fiasco continues to unfold
Investigations into White House, Dept. of
Interior, opposing tribes and lobbyists
Julie A. Shortridge
As part of our continuing
coverage of the proposed and rejected Hudson casino project, and how
tribal contributions to the Clinton
White House and Democratic Party
apparently bought a decision in the
Department of Interior, we are this
week providing our readers copies
of many White House memos,
MIGA meeting minutes, and other
letters that provide insight on the
lobbying effort and decision-making process.
These documents are
available as part of the court record,
including a lawsuit against the City
of Hudson for breach of contract, a
federal case against the Department
of Interior for going outside of their
regular decision-making process,
and a Minnesota case against lobbyists Larry Kitto, O'Donnell, and
Tom Corcoran all from O'Connor-
Hannan lobbying firm for contempt
of court in refusing to provide documents under subpoena and refusing to cooperate with investigations.
All of these lawsuits have been
brought by Four Feathers, Inc.,
which is composed of the Lac
Courte Orielles, Mole Lake
(Sokaogon) and Red Cliff bands of
Chippewa and HAH Enterprises
who owns the Hudson dog track.
Four Feathers proposed developing
the Hudson casino, .
Over $300,000 was donated to the Democratic National
Committee, Clinton/Gore '96 Reelection and Democratic Senate and
Congressional campaign committees and candidates apparently in
Hudson casino to page 3
Hudson casino letters and memos
Mark Drift sends message to MCT tribal members
The free press on trial
WE elder humiliated by Federal security staff
Mille Lacs allowed to begin exercising treaty rights
Voice ofthe People
1
E-malte preBsan@bJI.net
Demanding end to boarding school
treatment, elders seek to run their lodge
By Gary Blair
The discord between the Elders
Lodge board of directors and
EarthStar's executive director, Perry
Bolin, is apparently affecting the
cultural and economic needs of the
Elders Lodge residents.
EarthStar is a non-profit organization which helped develop the concept for the lodge. The conflict
started when the newly formed
lodge's board of directors accused
Bolin of misusing gambling pro
ceeds earmarked to assist the building's residents. Opened in May of
1997, the newly constructed 43-unit
lodge is located in St. Paul, MN at
1500 E. Magnolia.
On Tuesday the PRESS/ON was
invited to attend an evening meeting of the Elders Lodge residents'
council. "We have a lot of complaints that we want you to hear
about. We've invited Larry 'Cloud'
Morgan to bless the lodge. Maybe if
he does that, some of the bad things
that have been happening here will
go away. We've also invited Jerry
Northrup, Perry Bolin and a drum
group from Mounds Park-we're
having pot-luck, it should be good,"
the caller said.
Shortly after the meeting began,
resident council secretary Elle
Moore told the group that her treatment by the lodge's management
was similar to the days when she
was in boarding school. "We were
children then, we're adults now, and
we don't like the way we're being
Elders seek to page 6
Fifty Cents
OjibWi
News
We Support: Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded In 19B8
Volume 10   Issue 3
October 31, 1997
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright, The Ojibwe Mews, 1997
White Earth elder humiliated by federal
security staff says apology falls short
By Gary Blair
I
A federal official has sent a letter
of apology to a White Earth elder
who says she was forced to urinate
in her clothing after being denied
entrance to the Bishop Henry
Whipple Federal Building at Fort
Snelling, MN.
The woman, who lives in St. Paul,
MN, says she was refused entry
into the building because she did
not have her identification card
with her. When she then asked to
use the toilet in the building
because, as she put it, "Mother
Nature was calling," the male security guards also refused to let her
do so.
"I was standing there with my
legs crossed, I begged them to let
me go to the bathroom," she said.
"Finely, I just ran into the building.
I started looking where I though
the bathrooms would be, and then I
started asking people where the
bathrooms were. By that time, I
had started to wet myself and some
of the people that I had been asking
for directions to the bathroom started to laugh and giggle at me.
"When I finely found a bathroom,
Elder humiliated to page 3
Short-Staffed gambling regulators get big
funding boost
Submitted amvork
By Philip Brasher
WASHINGTON - The agency that
regulates Indian casinos will double
its budget under an agreement by
lawmakers to impose a new fee on
tribal gambling operations.
The National Indian Gaming
Commission has complained that it is
badly short-staffed. The agency has
six field investigators to cover nearly
280 casinos and bingo halls spread
around the country.
The fee contained in a spending bill
approved by the House Friday would
boost the agency's budget from $4.3
million to $9 million for fiscal 1998,
which began Oct. 1. The Senate is to
vote on the bill next week.
"We certainly want to increase the
numbers (of investigators) out there in
the field," Commission Chairman
Tadd Johnson said.
The fee will be imposed on both
casinos and bingo halls. It replaces a
smaller fee that was levied only against
bingo operations.
One tribe would be exempt from the
fee, the Choctaws in the home state of
Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, a
Republican on the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
The bill describes the tribe as "self-
regulating." However, Johnson said
there is no legal way for a tribe to
regulate its own gambling operations.
Spokesmen for Cochran and the tribe This artwork of a turtle is one of six creations by White Earth's Carly Bordeau. Bordeau's artwork is on display
did not return telephone calls Friday at an art gaUerv at her home in St. Paul. Bordeau's work will soon be featured at the Native Artists and Design
Another provision in the spending Art Gal,ery a* "06 P*«l Bunyan Drive NE of Bemidji in the near future.
bill would prevent the commission     ■ ■■ ■ ■ ■      ■ ■„ _■       _j.5 _
Justice opens inquiry into casino rejection
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Donations in 1995 and 1996   felonious activity is found.
Justice  Department  intends  to   amounted to $270,000 after the     The Justice Department is using the
on
from weakening regulations
electronic gambling devices.
Some tribes and manufacturers have
been pushing the commission to allow
tribes to operate those games without
state approval and the agency recently .
. iU i j j     Chippewa Indians to build a gambling
announced that it would reconsider      r   . ,,,.
investigate the Interior Department
concerning the rejection of plans by
those rules.
The commission shouldn't be
allowed    to    do    that    without _
. i        j i Department s Bureau of
congressional approval, said Jenny Af£._  ^ _ ^
Backes, a spokeswoman for Sen. Harry
Reid, D-Nevada, a critic ofthe Indian
gambling industry.
Returned donation spent on vans
TULSA, Okla. A majority of the
$107,000 donation returned to the
Cheyenne-Arapaho tribes by the
Democratic National Committee was
used to purchase passenger vans for
the elderly, tribal officials say.
The committee gave the money back
to the tribe after the contribution was
questioned. A U.S. Senate panel is
investigating whether the money was
donated in return for promises by
Democratic officials to help the tribes
recover disputed land in western
Oklahoma.
Melvin Whitebird, chairman ofthe
finance and budget committee ofthe
tribe, said members of the tribal
business committee "have created an
embarrassing situation for our tribes."
The story was reported from the
Tulsa World's Capitol bureau.
A transcript of a tribal meeting
showed Charles Surveyor, chairman
of the Cheyenne-Arapaho, said
President Clinton told him "we can
help you" regarding the land dispute
at a White House luncheon for donors.
White House officials maintain
Clinton's remarks were not made in
connection with the $107,000
donation.
"The monies donated were revenue
from our tribal bingo operation," said
Whitebird. "The National Indian
Gaming Act is specific on how monies
from gaming can be spent and it does
not include political donations."
Tonya Thunderbull, a former check
processor for the tribal controller, said
the money from the bingo operation
was meant to go to the elderly, the
jobless and the poor.
She said most of the returned
donation was used to buy three 15-
casino in western Wisconsin.
The proposal had the backing ofthe
Minnesota office of the Interior
Indian
Affairs, but was killed by Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt.
He denies the decision was affected
by political pressure from casino
operators in Wisconsin and Minnesota
who disliked the idea ofa competing
business in Hudson, Wis., less than an
hour's drive east of Minneapolis.
Three bands of Chippewa have filed
Hudson petition was denied in July,
1995.
Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn.,
chairman ofthe Senate committee that
is investigating White House fund-
raising, said Thursday he wants to
question Babbitt.
Babbitt spokesman Mike Gauldin
said Friday the Justice Department
requested permission to interview "a
couple of staff members" and that the
Interior Department has consented.
The Wall Street Journal and ABC
said the department has begun a 30-
day inquiry into whether Babbitt was
pressured by the White House to make
a decision on the Chippewa request.
Babbitt is covered under federal law
passenger vans and the rest has been suitinU.S. District Court in Madison,
placed in tribal emergency funds.       WijJ  saying opponents of me casino
Meanwhile, Ms. Thunderbull said proposal donated money to the   that could lead to the appointment ofa
she was fired earlier this month for Democratic National Committee.        special prosecutor if evidence of
telling others ofa tribal check among
the community.
The $ 1,500 check was made out to a
tribal business committee member for
emergency dental work.
Both tribal and federal funds were
used to finance the check, and such an
action is against federal regulations, ST. PAUL (AP)_ Within the next few
Ms. Thunderbull said. days, eight Chippewa bands may begin
She denied she had made the check hunting and fishing without state
public. Ms. Thunderbull also regulation in east-central Minnesota,
maintained that tribal money was used a right it took them years in court to
to pay for the personal phone calls of win.
same law to investigate fund-raising
allegations involving President
Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and
former Energy Secretary Hazel
O'Leary.
The AP reported this week that White
House memos show the administration
contacted the Interior Department
three times while the casino decision
was pending.
The three Chippewa bands that
wanted the casino, and which would
also need state approval, are the
Sokaogon, Lac Courte Oreilles and
Red Cliff.
Casino operators opposed to the
casino included the St. Croix band of
Chippewa, who have a casino near
Inquiry cont on 5
Minnesota court allows bands to begin
exercising rights
tribal officials.
NM BIA director-designate: Gover prepares
for new role
CORRALES, N.M. Kevin Gover
walked his first picket line when he
was 10. He was a successful
Washington lawyer_and an alcoholic
_ before his 30th birthday.
Now, 42 and sober, Gover returns to
Washington this week for confirmation
hearings on his nomination to head the
U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Full Senate confirmation for Gover,
an enrolled member of the Pawnee
tribe, could come as early as next
month.
Gover will draw from the righteous
indignation ofa 10-year-old and the
humility of a recovering alcoholic to
face the trials of one of government's
most grueling and thankless jobs.
If confirmed, he will inherit an
agency that has been blamed by Indians
for losing their money and ruining
their children; that has been attacked
by Congress and presidents as corrupt,
bloated and inefficient; and, on top of
all that, operates under the usual
political pressures of Washington.
"It's a mean town," Gover concedes.
"They're waiting for you to make a
mistake and to go afteryou. When you
live life day by day, at the end of each
day the most important thing that
happened is that you didn't drink, it
puts things in perspective. It doesn't
scare me."
Those who have worked with Gover
say his intelligence and instincts will
help him navigate Washington's rough
waters.
"Kevin is one ofthe most insightful
strategists," says attorney Richard
Hughes, who has worked with Gover
through legislative sessions and
several lawsuits. "He has just an
extraordinary ability to know what's
at stake, what the lineup is and how to
play it. He has a deft touch."
Gover's resume is top notch: prep
school and Princeton. A clerkship for
a federal judge, an associate job at a
big Washington law firm and a
partnership in a respected
Albuquerque firm, all by age 30. He
has lobbied in Washington and Santa
Gover cont'd on 5
"This case was filed seven years,
two months and two weeks ago, so it's
been a long time coming," Mille Lacs
Band of Chippewa counsel Jim Genia
said Monday.
Band members will be out hunting
deer and possibly fishing within a few
days, he said after the 8th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals issued a ruling lifting
a stay on those rights.
"The only remaining hurdle to band
members getting out to exercise their
rights has been removed," Genia said.
The bands said they retained rights
under an 1837 treaty and the U.S.
government agreed, arguing their side
in court. On the other side, the state,
nine counties and eight landowners
argued that the rights were no longer
valid.
The court said it lifted the stay
because "there exists no likelihood of
success" for the state in future court
disputes on the matter.
The issue was tough for many non-
Indian anglers and resort owners
concerned that increased levels of
tribal fishing would deplete the fish
available for non-Indian sport fishing.
Of particular concern is Lake Mille
Lacs, the state's premier walleye lake,
because of its proximity to the Twin
Cities.
Immediately after the ruling, tribal
leaders sought to quell concern.
Marge Anderson, chief executive of
the Mille Lacs band, renewed the
band's pledge to exercise these rights
"with sensitivity to the needs of our
fellow citizens and with the respect
and regard for natural resources that
have always characterized our Oj ibwe
traditions."
A three-judge panel of the court
lifted the ban on the rights, issued by
the U.S. District Court in St. Paul. The
ban was to be in place pending
resolution ofthe state's appeals.
The state has asked the court for a
hearing before the full 8 th circuit. No
ruling has been made on that request,
but Monday's order may have
provided some indication of the
outcome.
A spokeswoman for Attorney
General Hubert H. Humphrey III said
the comments and the ruling do not
necessarily indicate what may happen.
"It's the same three judges that
initially ruled against the state so it's
not surprising," Leslie Sandberg said.
"But we think it's not perhaps
reflective ofthe whole 8th circuit."
Earlier this year, the U.S. District
Court approved allowing the Mille
Lacs and Fond du Lac bands of
Chippewa in Minnesota and six
Wisconsin Chippewa bands to start
spearing and gillnetting on 29 east-
central Minnesota lakes. Most ofthe
fishing was put on hold pending the
outcome ofthe appeal.
The 8th circuit agreed with the ruling,
rejecting an appeal by the state, nine
counties and eight landowners. The
ruling said the Indians retained special
rights to hunt and fish in territory
ceded in 1837. The bands and the U.S.
government, with which the bands
made the treaty, believed the rights
remain in force.